>> Sunday, October 8, 2017

PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz

If forty-five years
after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed martial law and 31 years
after he was deposed by the People Power Revolution of 1986, you’d think that
his heirs would stay out of politics and lead a quiet life? You’re
wrong. The Marcoses are nowhere living their lives in the quietude
of obscurity; they’re basking in the limelight of power.

Indeed, during a forum
commemorating her father’s 100th birthday in Batac, Ilocos Norte, Governor Imee
Marcos reminded the attendees of a statement made by her father after they were
ousted from power, that “history was not done yet” with her
family. She was referring to her late father’s comment when they
landed at the Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. “We were all in tears
and everyone said, ‘The end is nigh, it is finished, we are dead and doomed,’”
Imee said. “My father said, ‘No, children. To my family and to
everyone, history is not done with me yet.’”

It is interesting to
note that when the Marcoses fled into exile in February 1986, they were
prepared for it. When they landed at Hickam, the official U.S.
customs record took up around 23 pages. In the two C-141 transport planes that
took them away, they had packed: 23 wooden crates; 12 suitcases and bags, and
various boxes, the contents of which included enough clothing to fill 67 racks;
413 pieces of jewelry, including 70 pairs of jewel-studded cufflinks; an ivory
statue of the infant Jesus, adorned with a silver mantle and a diamond
necklace; 24 gold bricks, inscribed “To my husband on our 24th anniversary”;
and more than 27 million Philippine pesos in freshly-printed notes. The total
value was $15 million. [Source: kami.com.ph]

Marcos died in 1989 in
Honolulu. In 1993, his remains were flown back to the Philippines
when then President Fidel Ramos allowed the Marcos family to return provided
that they bury the Marcos patriarch in Ilocos Norte. The family complied
with the condition and the remains were entombed in a crypt in Batac.

The Marcos family
incessantly lobbied to have Marcos’ remains buried at the Libingan ng mga
Bayani – Heroes’ Cemetery – in Taguig City. But every president
opposed it until last November when President Rodrigo Duterte allowed the
burial of the dictator with full military honors despite a public outrage.

Spectacular
comeback

In a span of three
decades, the Marcoses made their way back to power. The matriarch,
Imelda Marcos, now 88, currently represents her late husband’s second
congressional district in Ilocos Norte. The only son, Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr., was elected Ilocos Norte governor in 1998 and
representative of the second district in 2007. In 2010, he ran and
won a senate seat.

Termed out in 2016, he
ran for vice president but lost to Leni Robredo by 263,000
votes. This prompted him to file for a recount, which is now pending
before the Supreme Court acting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal PET).

If Bongbong gets the
vote of at least eight Supreme Court justices, he’d serve the remainder of
Robredo’s term until 2022 when the next presidential election is
held. At that time, Bongbong would be an “incumbent” vice president
and would therefore benefit from the power of incumbency, which would allow him
to use government resources in his campaign.

In a sense Bongbong is
just eight votes away from dislodging Robredo from the vice
presidency. But his biggest advantage is that President Duterte is
supporting him. With Duterte’s appointment of four new Supreme
Court justices, he has achieved in creating a bloc of magistrates in the High
Court who are expected to support his agenda in a manner no other president
before had enjoyed.

And with the
retirement of eight of the remaining 11 justices during his term, Duterte would
stack up the bench with 12 justices of his own choice. Should the PET come to a
vote before Duterte’s term ends on June 30, 2022, the question that comes to
fore is: Could Bongbong secure the votes of at least eight of Duterte’s High
Court appointees? Well, this is just like asking, “Does the dog
bark?”

A few
gold bars

Bongbong must then
have every reason to think that power is within his grasp. His
political benefactor Duterte announced in early September that the Marcos
family was willing to return a “few gold bars” they had hidden away. The
Marcos family has been accused of stashing billions in secret bank accounts
abroad.

Duterte said a
spokesman for the Marcoses had told him that the family was willing to “open everything”
and to return the stolen wealth accumulated during the Marcos' decades as
president. “They are ready to bring it back… including a few gold
bars.” But how many is a “few gold bars”? However, it is
a fact – and they admitted it – that the entire cache of gold bars in the
Philippines’ central bank depository was spirited away. Nothing was
left.

Although it was not
acknowledged by the Marcos family, the offer to return part of the Marcoses’
ill-gotten wealth and a “few gold bars” begs the question: Why is the Marcos
family returning part of the estimated $10-billion loot that Marcos is accused
of embezzling from state coffers during his 21-year rule? To date,
the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was created by the
1987 Constitution, recovered some $3 billion in the last 30 years.

Presidential
ambitions

The Marcoses’ offer to
return billions in loot has stirred speculation as to what their intention
is. But for them to return the stolen wealth, they must be up to
something worth more than what they stole. And that is nothing less
than the presidency of the Philippines. Stepping up to the vice
presidency would make it a lot easier for Bongbong to beat any other contender,
including Robredo. However, Duterte dispelled rumors that the offer
was part of an “operation” to aid Bongbong in his alleged plan to run for
president.

But first, Bongbong
has to clear the way of any impediment – legal or otherwise -- that could
torpedo his presidential ambitions. It did not then come as a
surprise that several lawmakers and martial law victims criticized the offer,
saying that the Marcos family should return their ill-gotten wealth, disclose
any condition for its return, and hold them accountable.

Vice President Robredo
also believed that the Marcos family could only be offering to return part of
the loot to dodge the “legal repercussions” of stealing from the
country. She rejected the notion to grant the late dictator’s heirs
immunity without them admitting to their crimes. However, Bongbong’s
supporters insist that immunity must be granted as a condition for returning
the stolen wealth.

And this brings to
mind the question: Is the presidency worth more than the billions that Marcos
had stolen and stashed in secret bank accounts? While one can say
that the ill-gotten wealth has a finite value, the value of the presidency is
infinite. Immense power comes with the presidency and it opens a lot
of doors to opportunities of immeasurable wealth. In other words,
the Marcos family could regain the ill-gotten wealth and a lot more than what
they would have returned to “secure” the presidency.

At the end of the day,
one wonders if what the late dictator had in mind when he told his family who
were then languishing in exile in Hawaii, “To my family and to everyone,
history is not done with me yet.”

This reminds me of the
Shakespearean novel “Macbeth,” which says, “The protagonist Macbeth
is caught in a down spiral induced by his ambition, which in the end, was the
cause of his tragic end. Macbeth, once a great hero falls victim of his
ambition for power. Although the protagonist initially tries to resist his
human urge, he in the end committed crime against his country, his friends, and
sadly himself.”

Could it be then that
the late dictator’s obsession with power is passed on to his son, Bongbong? (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)